Reviews with content warning for Death of parent - De verliefde graaf

Once again, I enjoyed the season of the show more than the book.

HOWEVER

The second book was WAY better than the first in my opinion. Even though Anthony occasionally gave me the ick ("You won't deny me my rights", like ok dude, chill), as an enemies/rivals to lovers sucker, this book did it for me. The tension (for the most part) was beautiful, even if he did try to choke her, but not in a hot way.

One thing that the book did do better though was Edwina. The show did her DIRTY and made her completely oblivious to the sexual tension that everyone in the ton could see, not to mention the public humiliation she received on her wedding day. In this book, Edwina not only backed off, when Kate and Anthony got engaged, but she encouraged it. Not to mention that she fell in love right after to a man that she actually could tolerate spending a life with, who didn't constantly think about "Yeah she's hot, but I won't fall in love with her."

SPEAKING OF THE ENGAGEMENT

This is something where the show surpasses the book TENFOLD. Despite the awkwardness of the wedding, Kate and Anthony are definitely endgame. Anthony loves her, but the moment he sheds this "bad boy" persona for real is when Kate falls off the horse and hits her head. This leads to Edwina's forgiveness and in the end, Kate realizes she loves Anthony and the two dance the night away at the ball and realize that they can't fight their feelings any longer.

NOW THE BOOK

I could write a twelve page paper on the impact the bee scene had on me, diving deep into all of the positive and negative feelings that this left me with, so I'm going to move past and focus on what immediately follows. As Kate is (rightfully) horrified by this exchanged, she notices that watching them is not only the biggest gossip in the ton, but their mothers. All parties wish that they were anywhere else in that moment and I wish that I didn't have to read that either.

Anyway, because they were caught indecently, they're forced to be engaged and get married. WHICH IS LITERALLY COPY AND PASTE FROM THE FIRST BOOK. I understand if it's supposed to be dunking on Anthony, because he did the exact same thing to Simon and Daphne in the first book and then it came back to bite him in the ass in this one. But I think that moving in a different direction in the show was definitely to their advantage. It just reads as a deja vu moment and kinda like "yeah I get this is the time, but like, ok".

But the CARRIAGE SCENE.... UGHHHHH

This left me with the same feels that the horse scene in the show gave. Honestly I think maybe more. The chapter ends with Anthony saying that he was witnessing his wife die and even though I knew she was very much alive, I couldn't help but GASP. It was one of Anthony's first real moments of vulnerability. In a very public way. He thinks that he's cursed and now that he loves a woman, she's destined to die. It really captured the franticness that the show was able to convey and I really enjoyed that scene.

Content Warnings

i_f_b's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Content Warnings

jessiwright's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark funny lighthearted relaxing sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

More...